"I feel like this outfit is very Charlie Chaplin," Oh Land enthuses of her Wackerhaus trousers and body stocking. "It's also the type of thing I would wear while traveling, or during a long day in the recording studio."

Photograph: Zenith Richards

OhLand9

Christian Joy designed this cape specifically for the video for Oh Land's song "Sun of a Gun." "The pattern is inspired by an ancient Egyptian sun symbol," she says.

Her personal style: "I'm really inspired by the clash between nature and civilization, but I also want it to be futuristic, to have an edge that's more electronic. I like things that remind me of another reality. I like things that have a little bit of humor and are playful. I don't dress to try to look a certain way or have a certain look. I dress to have fun, and make myself laugh."

Her inspiration: "I'm very much into visual arts, and a big influence in my life has been Tim Burton. He combines things that are very beautiful, dark and twisted. Edward Scissorhands is the perfect example: It's this pastel-colored city and this weird dark goth person with scissors as hands. That really speaks to me."

Her style icon: "David Bowie. I love the Ziggy Stardust period. I love how he played with the androgyny. My sister has also been a big influence on my style. When I was ten years old, she would bring back magazines from England that you couldn't get in Denmark. I was the only girl in my school who, at ten, knew what Prada was. It was quite geeky."

Her NYC fashion hero: "I love Grace Coddington from Vogue. What I love about her style and the way she styles is it's also about telling stories. It's not just clothes for the clothes, it's using clothes as a language."

On her multisensory approach to songwriting: "I grew up in a family that was very creative. My mom was an opera singer, and she was singing at the Royal Opera House. I would come with her and be around all these fun characters in the theater world. I would spend my childhood playing dress-up, and seeing the ballet dancers in their tutus. It was a very visual world. Playing dress-up was my daily life. So it's a very natural thing for me to incorporate that in the music, because I grew up with storytelling, telling stories both with music and with pictures. That's what I do now also. What I do now is not very far from what I did as a kid. Now there's just more people watching."

On how her background as a ballet dancer affected her style: "I guess I was always more attracted to the more quirky roles and quirky parts in plays. I wanted to be the troll, I never wanted to be the princess. As a dancer, you always wear really tight clothes, and it's kind of about always trying to be beautiful. I got bored of that ultrafeminine style. At the same time I have a big love for it—it's a love-hate thing. It got me in the end, it was too much with all the pink and powder. That's what I do with my music now—I make my own rules instead of trying to live out somebody else's vision. That's the change from dance to music that I love so much. I make my own little world now."

On the Black Swan ballerina trend: "It's a very distinct kind of dollhouse style. I think what's interesting about that world is that it has a really eerie, dark side as well, that you see in the movie. All the hard work it takes to be a dancer isn't pretty. I like the torn tutus and the cracked, broken-toe shoes. I think it's an interesting aesthetic, but it's also a clichd one."

Favorite stores: "I've definitely gotten more American Apparel(various locations, visit americanapparel.com for info)! [Laughs] We don't have that in Denmark. What I really love in Williamsburg are all these little vintage shops. I love finding one-of-a-kind pieces. I love Fille de Joie(197 Grand St between Bedford and Driggs Aves, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-599-3525), which has everything from lamps, purses, hats to furs. I love Opening Ceremony(33--35 Howard St between Broadway and Lafayette St; 212-219-2688, openingceremony.us). I like to pair things from there with vintage things."

Her signature item: "I always wear really tall shoes, like wedges. The bigger the better. You can wear the cheapest, ugliest clothes if you have amazing shoes. I like capes, because they remind me of birds. Anything that has an element of fantasy. That's what I do in my music. I tell stories that are in my life and wrap them into fables."

How her style has evolved: "I've always experimented with style, since I was a little kid. Sometimes I looked horrible and sometimes it was successful. It takes a lot of experimenting to know what your taste is. I think everybody has a phase where they look ridiculous, and I've definitely had a few of those! The older I get, the more I know what I like and what I don't like. But I just keep seeing it as fun, and something I want to play with."

HEAR HER MUSIC! Oh Land performs at Terminal 5(610 W 56th St at Eleventh Ave; 212-260-4700, terminal5nyc.com; 8pm; $26--$32) on March 8. Click here to preorder Oh Land's self-titled album for $5, which comes with a free, instant download of her first single, "Sun of a Gun."